FYI
Table of ContentsYou can still contribute this summer! Learn about changes to Ohio’s academic content standards while gathering many new ideas for the next school year and beyond at the Model Curriculum Teacher Team Meetings planned statewide through August 19. Registration deadlines are the Friday preceding the following week’s meetings. Educators will receive 3 contact hours for participating.
During the small-group meetings, you will be encouraged to share instructional strategies and resources for the new Web-based Model Curriculum, which will support the newly adopted Common Core standards in English language arts and mathematics and the revised content standards in science and social studies. The instructional strategies and resources generated from the meetings will help teachers design quality curriculum, instruction, and assessment in the future.
Note that participants need not attend in their own region if another site or date is better for them. Instructions for registration, along with additional information about the meetings, are available on the Ohio Department of Education Teaching page.
|
 |
Attend a resource fair at COSI on Tuesday, August 3, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and meet representatives from central Ohio organizations that support teachers. The fair is free and covers all grade levels. This year's event includes a free film on COSI’s Extreme Screen and a sneak preview of the new Adventure exhibition. A valid school ID is required for free teacher admission; home-school educators need proof of home school status. For details, click here.
The message of our latest ORC-On is straightforward—do everything you can to encourage students to read during the summer! Divided into four grade levels, the e-pub offers numerous tips and resources that summer school teachers and families can use to promote reading.
The National Research Council’s conceptual framework for the new science education standards has just been released for public comment. The document lays the foundation for the core science ideas, cross-cutting concepts, and scientific practices that all students will need to succeed in science. Science educators are urged to review and comment on the draft by the August 2 deadline.
Teachers and students will both enjoy the challenge of the Stella problems, known as Stella's Stunners! Some classic, some new, all different, and all with solutions provided, the Stella problems can spice up mathematics classes or can as easily provide the substance for problem-solving contests or math club programs.
Inclusive Children’s Stories are featured in the newest REC Bookshelf. In these books, children with disabilities can see themselves in the illustrations and storylines as “one of the gang.” If you are preparing to have an inclusive classroom of young children next year, the Inclusive Children’s Stories bookshelf will help you choose books to add to your classroom library.
Focusing on a specific event or topic, ORC·ON e-pubs are brief and to the point. In this ORC·ON, we spotlight excellent science resources and ideas you can use in your classroom to investigate the science of oil spills. Just click here and then select the grade level version you want to see.
In the newest Let’s Learn project, preschool children investigate birds and their habitats near their northwestern Ohio early learning center. Over the nearly six-month period, the children engaged in building nests and birdhouses. They explored bird books, "wrote" or copied printed words (such as bird and nest) for their drawings, kept their studio journals, and expressed themselves through dramatic play and song. Come see the Bird Nest Project and share their ornithological adventures.
|
|
WOSU, in collaboration with ORC, has recently published "Ice Cores: Unlocking Past Climates." This resource provides a key to understanding what we know and how we know about the earth’s climate with a set of five video learning modules and companion curricular resources. The lessons begin by clarifying the difference between weather and climate; they then proceed to give us a closer look at glaciers and the records they hold of climatic events over extraordinarily long periods of time and show how scientists collect and study glacial ice cores to trace climate history. Students are drawn into hands-on, minds-on investigations in each learning module. This resource is presently available at http://wosu.org/ice-cores/.
|
|
How many times over the years have students said to you (or you've said to yourself), "I want to read another book just like the one I just finished. What should I read?" Well, we just discovered the site The Book Seer from Brenda Power's "The Big Fresh Newsletter" that answers that question. All you need to do is plug in the book title and author, and at least one return list of books—sometimes more—pops up. [Please be aware that the first (and sometimes only) list is recommended by the British Amazon site, and in no way are we trying to promote any business.]
|
|
Nineteen outstanding educators participated in the 3-day ORC Ambassador training program on June 15-17, but for the first time, we are able to provide training for both ORC and Thinkfinity. All 19 new ambassadors are fully prepared to provide professional development in the use of ORC and Thinkfinity resources.
ORC now has 85 ambassadors who can provide training for both organizations and another 87 ambassadors who have not yet taken their Thinkfinity training.
To request an ambassador or to apply for the training, go to the ORC Ambassador page at http://www.ohiorc.org/ambassador.
ORC Contact: Carol Dodson
Academic content standards are available at the the following links:
ORC continues to keep educators updated on the latest developments in Ohio's academic standards revision process through our specially developed website, Revising Ohio Standards.
|
|
Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference (OCTM)
October 14-15, 2010 Knight Center, Akron
Ohio Council of the International Reading Association
October 22-23, 2010 Kent State University, Kent
eTech Ohio 2011 Ohio Educational Technology
Jan. 31-Feb.2, 2011 Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus
Science Education Council of Ohio Conference (SECO)
February 10-12 Knight Center, Akron
Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA)
March 4-5, 2011 Doubletree Hotel, Worthington
Ohio Early Care and Education Conference
April 28-30, May 1, 2011 Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus
|
|
Facebook
Become a fan now at Facebook/ORC to receive instant notifications of ORC’s latest events, share information, and make professional connections.
ORC Contact: John Croyle
Twitter
Follow ORC on Twitter to keep up with ORC specialists and news. We created a Twitter page for each content area -- mathematics, science, and English language arts -- and a page for Early Childhood. Become a follower of the pages you're interested in or a follower of all the ORC pages. Use the following links to go to the Twitter pages:
ORC Mathematics Twitter Page
ORC Science Twitter Page
ORC English Language Arts Twitter Page
Early Childhood Twitter Page
YouTube
The Ohio Resource Center has its own ORC YouTube Channel featuring ORC produced professional development videos. The videos provide classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, and other education leaders with engaging and stimulating conversation about supporting student success in the classroom, as well as with the OGT and OAT; improving instructional practice; and modeling professional discussion.
Mobile Website
ORC now offers on-the-go access with our new mobile website. You’ll find the most current information and staff-selected resources along with a link to our regular site. Save this URL (http://m.ohiorc.org) to your favorites and start enjoying the convenience of our mobile website today.
ORC Contact: John Croyle
|
|
The Ohio Resource Center is proud to announce its collaboration with E-Tech Ohio and Apple, Inc. by providing access to the ORC-produced learning and professional development webcast and podcast collection through iTunes U.
iTunes U, an area of the iTunes Store that provides free education content, makes it easy for preK–12 classroom teachers and higher education faculty to access amazing educational material for free, at anytime and anywhere. ORC’s first installment on iTunes U includes:
- Science Instructional Strategies, providing science educators with resources and information to help prepare students for science assessment and to help students become scientifically literate citizens
- Reading and Writing Informational Text, supporting leaders in English language arts education with instructional strategies for student classroom success
- New-Teacher Survival Guide, recommending approaches that will help teachers set up and maintain a science classroom by focusing on topics pertinent to both new and experienced science teachers
To locate ORC webcasts, go to Ohio on iTunes U. Under subject areas, select professional development for a listing of titles. New iTunes users can download an iTunes app at the website.
|
|
After completing their training, ORC ambassadors are eager to share their knowledge of ORC in a variety of ways, including videos. Here are three of their creations:
Becky Petrokubi narrated a video overview of the ORC website and projects. The video can be used to provide a brief overview of ORC for colleagues and administrators. It's also useful as a tour for the individual viewer. Located in the document library under "Multimedia Presentations," the video is easy to access and view.
Meagen Howe developed a short video for introducing ORC to teachers or for learning more about ORC. Watch ORC in Plain English three-minute video that shows what ORC can do for you.
Melinda Gregor created an ORC trailer to promote interest in the website. Melinda used the free video-maker Animoto.
If you are interested in becoming an ORC Ambassador or finding an ORC Ambassador for a presentation, go to the ambassador page to learn more.
ORC Contact: Carol Dodson
|
|
Have you joined ORC? Click here for a simple registration form. By registering, you can choose to receive our weekly newsletter ORC Highlights by email. Registered users also receive an ORC account which enables them to create their own collections of ORC resources. Visit our document library for directions for creating an ORC collection.
The ORC MATHEMATICS Review Board will meet:
- October 2, 2010
- November 19, 2010
For additional Math Review Board meeting details, contact Mike Mikusa (mmikusa@kent.edu) or Gale Martin (gmartin@ohiorc.org).
--------------------
The ORC SCIENCE Review Board will meet:
For additional Science Review Board meeting details, contact Ralph Martin (martin@ohio.edu) or Gale Martin (gmartin@ohiorc.org).
--------------------
The ORC READING Review Board will meet:
For additional Reading Review Board meeting details, contact Evangeline Newton (enewton@uakron.edu) or Gale Martin (gmartin@ohiorc.org).
--------------------